A MODEL OF WORKING MEMORY BADDELEY AND HITCH

A MODEL OF WORKING MEMORY BADDELEY AND HITCH

BRADDELEY AND HITCH : A MODEL OF A WORKING MEMORY � � � ALAN BADDELEY AND GRAHAM HITCH (1974) Suggests that memory is an active, multi-component memory system. Subsystems of working memory with temporarily stores and manipulates information. Working memory encodes the information into long term memory (LTM) and retrieves the memory from LTM Indicates we are actively doing something with the information. e. g memory holds words before we form a sentence. Holds all information for cognitive activities. (planning, thinking, analysis)

BRADDELEY AND HITCH: WORKING MEMORY � Originally suggested that working memory consisted of three separate components that did not relate to each other. � Called “slave systems”: › Phonological loop › Visuospatial sketchpad › Central executive � 2000, Braddeley added a third slave system: the episodic buffer.

What the model looks like

THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP: OUR INNER VOICE AND EAR Phonological loop holds verbal information Is an area of working memory that stores a limited number of speech based and acoustic sounds that are received from echoic memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin) and/or LTM � Will hold for up to 2 seconds unless information is rehearsed to prevent decay of memory. � Is at work when preparing a sentence, or temporarily remembering a phone number. � Has two subsystems: � � › Phonological store – inner ear › Articulatory control system – inner voice

THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP: PHONOLOGICAL STORE & ARTICULATORY CONTROL SYSTEM � Phonological loop stores sounds we hear for 1. 5 - 2 seconds. These sounds will fade unless taken by the articulatory control system. � The articulatory control system holds sound we want to keep, or that we are preparing to speak. Will hold for 2 seconds.

VISUOSPATIAL SKETCHPAD (INNER EYE) � The visuospatial sketchpad (VS) is one of two passive slave systems in Baddeley & Hitch’s (1986) model of working memory � Visual information refers to what things appear to look like. � The VS provides temporary storage and manipulation of visual and spatial information held in the long-term memory (LTM).

� The information stored is maintained by spatial rehearsal � The VS plays an important role in helping us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects as we move through our environment. � Evidence suggests that working memory uses two different systems for dealing with visual and verbal information.

�A visual processing task and a verbal processing task can be performed at the same time. It is more difficult to perform two visual tasks at the same time because they interfere with each other and performance is reduced. � The same applies to performing two verbal tasks at the same time. This supports the view that the phonological loop and the sketchpad are separate systems within working memory.

� As we move around, our position in relation to objects is constantly changing and it is important that we can update this information. › E. g. , being aware of where we are in relation to desks, chairs and tables when we are walking around a classroom means that we don't bump into things too often!

EPISODIC BUFFER � Briefly stores limited amounts of information from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad with information taken from LTM. � The information taken from the two is integrated into an episode to make sense.

CENTRAL EXECUTIVE: CONTROLLING ACTIVITY Central executive monitors, coordinates and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial and episodic buffer. � It controls: � › › The flow of information from its slave systems which plays a major role in attention Which items move in and out of short term memory (STM) by deciding which information arriving from sensory will be attended to The retrieval process from long term memory (LTM) When we multi-task

� Two key characteristics of Atkinson and Shriffin’s multi-store model that originally defined STM – limited capacity and limited duration – are present in the working memory model. � But the Baddeley and Hitch model accounts for evidence that STM handles a greater variety of functions and depends on more complicated processes than previously thought.

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